— ; ; —

I. LOVE-SONGS : PERSONAL 387

' O saw ye my father, or saw ye my mother, Or saw ye my true love, John? I saw not your father, I saw not your mother, But I saw your true love, John.

' Up Johnnie rose, and to the door he goes, And gently tirled the pin ; The lassie taking tent, unto the door she went, And she open'd and let him in.

* Flee, flee up, my bonny grey cock. And craw whan it is day Your neck shall be like the bonny beaten gold, And your wings of the silver grey.

' The cock prov'd false, and untrue he was. For he crew an hour o'er soon The lassie thought it day when she sent her love away, And it was but a blink of the moon.' The origin of this beautiful song has been disputed by Chappell {Popular Music, p. 7J/), who claimed that the original publication of five stanzas is in Vocal Music, or the Songsters Companion, London, 1772, ii. j6. He stated that a Scottified version was reprinted by Herd in 1776, but I have shown that the song was printed in Herd's first edition of 1769. The third stanza in Focal Music, as follows, can be compared with the above second stanza :

' Then John he up arose, and to the door he goes,

And he twirled, he twirled at the pin ; The lassie took the hint, and to the door she went, And she let her true love in.' The English copyist discloses his ignorance of the Scots language in the second line, where the lover tirls the wooden latch or pin of the door to arrest his sweetheart's attention. Tivirling is not ti7-litig at all, which in this case is a tremulous vibration of sound like the clicks of an electric instrument trans- mitting a message. The song in Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, ii. 20S, is extended to seven stanzas and not improved. Pinkerton printed this version in Select Ballads, 1783, 1J4. Lastly a spurious, so-called traditional, version in Cromek's Nitksdale Song, 1810, ^4, is probably the work of Allan Cunningham. The music of the song as in our text is in Stewart's Scots Songs, 1772, 14, with the original verses of 1769. In the Scots Musical Museum, I'jS'j, No. y6, with the seven stanzas of 1 776 ; and in the Pertk Musical Miscellany, 1 786, 2/.

IL LOVE : GENERAL.

M"o. 110. My Sandy gied. to me a ring. Scots l\Iusical Museum, 1790, No. 204, entitled / love my love in secret. This song is a near copy with alterations of one in Herd^s MS. In Law's MS. List for the Museum, Burns wrote : 'Mr. Burns's old words.' In Scotland it was customary for lovers who were to be temporarily separated, to break a silver coin at time of parting, each keeping a piece as a pledge to be faithful during absence. The custom 0' is described in Logic Buchan :

' He had but a saxpence, he brak it in twa And gied me the hauf o't when he gaed awa.' — —

388 HISTORICAL NOTES

The oldest form of the well-known tune Logie o Buckatt is derived from / love

my love in secret, which is in Guthrie's MS., according to Dauney ; in Playford's Original Scotch Tunes, 1700; in Sinkler's MS., Glasgow, 17 10; in M'Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1742,^; in Caledoniait Pocket Companion, c. 1745, 11.26; and other collections.

TTo. m. There 's nought but care on ev'ry han'. Of this song all but the last stanza is in the Commonplace Book, under the date Aug., 1784. In its complete form it was published in the Edinburgh edition, 1787, J^jt find with the tune in the Scots Musical Mtiseum, 1787, No. 77, as the earliest song of Burns printed with music. In a passage in the Coinmoyiplace Book,

p. 20, Burns divides young men into two classes —the grave and the merry ; and in a later reference to the subject, instead of stating to which class he himself belongs, he quotes tlie fragment of Green grow the rashes, so that the reader may determine the matter himself. The song is so free and

spontaneous in its rhythm and cadence, as to require no music to interpret it.

It is as popular now as when first given to the public ; not even a century has diminished its lustre. The earlier rustic song which Burns knew, and had in his mind when he wrote his own poem, cannot be printed entire. It is a humorous satire on manners, one stanza running thus :

' We 're a' dry wi' drinkin o't. We're a' dry wi' drinkin o't, The minister kissed the fiddler's wife, And could na preach for thinkin o't.'

Two highly-flavoured songs for the tune are in the Me7-ry Muses. In 1794 Thomson proposed to set the verses to the tune Cauld Kail, but Burns objected, saying that as the old song was current in Scotland under the old title, and to the merry old tune of that name, the introduction of his verses with a new tune would mar its celebrity. Cou thou me the raschyes green is named in the Complaynt of Scotland, c. 1549. A tune with this title, which is in a MS. in

the British Museum, is quite a different melody from that in the text ; but the germ of the present air is in Straloch's MS., 1627, entitled A dance : Greett grow the rashes. It was known later as / kist her while she blusht, evidently from the first line or refrain of forgotten verses. In Bremner's Reels, 1759, 6^, it is named The Grant's Rant. Its earliest appearance in print is in Oswald's Curious Collection Scots Ttines, I'j^o, p. 42. It is in Oswald's Coffipanion, 1743, i. 18; Stewart's Reels, 1761, ij, and many other tune-books of the end of the eighteenth century.

No. 112. O, whar gat ye that hauver-meal bannock ? Scots Musical Aluseum, 1787, No. pp, entitled Bonie Du?idee, with the tune of the same

name. Cromek's Scotish Songs, 1810, ii. 202 ; Lawrie's Scottish Songs, 1791, ii. pi. Early in 1787, the Earl of Buchan sent a complimentary letter to Burns, who carried it in his pocket for some time, and ultimately used the dingy blank leaf at one of the meetings of the Crochallan Club to pencil the opening lines of Bonie Dundee, which his friend Robert Cleghorn had just sung. A short time afterwards he sent to the latter the verses in the text.

Stenhouse says that the first four lines are old ; while, according to Scott- Douglas, the first eight lines are in the original song. Neither statement

is correct ; for only the first two lines of the song are in the original broadside (in the Pepys and other collections), reprinted in Wit and Mirth, London, 1703, as follows:

' Where gott'st thou the Haver-meal bonack ? Blind Booby, can'st thou not see; I'se got it out of the Scotch-man's wallet, As he lig lousing him under a tree. — ; —

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 389

' Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can, Come saddle my horse, and call up my man Come open the gates, and let me go free. And I'se gang no more to bonny Dundee.' The title is Bonny Dundee ; or. Jockey's Deliverance, &c., in Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, 27/. It describes, in ten stanzas, the intrigue of a licentious trooper with a parson's daughter. This song was veiy popular in England, and was often reprinted. It is named in A second tale of a tub, published in 1715, as one which the Blue bonnets sang in London. A fragmentary stanza in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, }ii, is evidently a purified remnant of the song. Sir Walter Scott adopted the chorus in Up wV the bonnets d bonnie Dundee. The tune is in the Skene MS., c. 1630, entitled Adew Dundee, here reprinted. It is in V\2l^{o\S!% Dancing Alasier, published in 1688, and afterwards, with the words, in Durfey's Pills, 1719, v. 77. The music, as a dance tune, is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1751, iii. 4, and in many other instrumental collections. The simplicity of the melody is considerably obscured in all the printed

copies. Durfey corrupted it with unmeaning flourishes ; it was partly restored in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, but still a good deal removed from the plain smoothness of the original. Copies are also in CraXgs Scots Tunes, 1730, 22, and in M'^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1 746, j6.

There are two songs in the Merry Mttses for the tune ; and Cromek, Scotish Songs iSio, ii. 207, gives the following as the stanza of an old song:

' Ye 're like to the timmer o' yon rotten wood, Ye 're like to the bark o' yon rotten tree, Ye slip frae me like a knotless thread. An' ye'll crack your credit wi' mae than me.'

!N"o. 113. Tfow simmer blinks on flo'w'ry braes. Scots Musical Museum, 1788, No. 77^, signed ' B,' entitled Birks of Aberfeldy. This is the earliest of the series of songs due to the first tour in the Highlands in company with William Nicol, of the High School of Edinburgh. On August 30, 17S7, Burns arrived at Aberfeldy, and wrote in his copy of the Museum, that this song was composed ' standing under the falls of Aberfeldy, at or near Moness.' It is justly esteemed one of the most popular songs in Scotland. The original was known as The Birks of Abergeldie, two stanzas of which are inserted in the Museum, immediately following Burns's verses. The old fragment was copied from Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, ii. 221, and begins thus:

' Bonny lassie, will ye go, will ye go, will ye go, Bonny lassie, will ye go to the Birks o' Abergeldie? Ye shall get a gown of silk, a gown of silk, a gown of silk, Ye shall get a gown of silk, and coat of calimancoe.'

In his Scottish Ballads and Songs, 1859, /p, Maidment reprinted verses from an original broadside of the beginning of the eighteenth century, but he considered Herd's fragment older. The Maidment ballad is written throughout in English. The sustained popularity of the song is due in a great measure to its melody. In the 1690 edition of Playford's Dancing Master the tune is entitled A Scotch Ayre; 2a Abergeldie it is in Atkinsons MS., 1694; in Sinklers MS., 17 Jo, as Birks of Ebergeldie. It is also in Original Scotch Tunes, 1700; in Bremner's Reels, Keels, 1758, J/; Stewart's 1761, j ; Caledonian Pocket Companion, c. 1756, viii. 16, and others. Abergeldy, near Balmoral, is now a royal demesne.

N"o. 114. As I gaed dcwn the water-side. Scots Musical Musemn, 1 790, No. 264. The MS. is in the British Museum, with the opening bars of the tune, and a note that Clarke has it (R. B.) ' This beautiful song is in the true old Scotch taste, yet I do not know that ever either air or words were in print ;

390 HISTORICAL NOTES before' {Interleaved Museum). 'Mr. Biirns's old words' (Law's MS. List). Neither Cromek nor Scott-Douglas correctly stated how much of the song Burns wrote and amended. The last two stanzas are Burns's, and the first two are made out of the original first stanza. ' I am flattered at your adopting Ca' the yoxves, as it was owing to me that ever it saw the light. About seven years ago, I was well acquainted with a worthy little fellow of a clergyman,

a Mr. Clunyie, who sang it charmingly ; and, at my request, Mr. Clarke took it down from his singing. When 1 gave it to Johnson, I added some stanzas to the song, and mended others, but still it will not do for you ' {Letter to Thomson, September, 1794). See Song No. J/ 5. Tibby Pagan, an eccentric woman, who sold whisky without a licence, and dispensed a fund of bold humour to her customers, is said to have been the author, but there is no authority for the statement. A collection of her songs and poems was printed in Glasgow about 1S05, but Cd the yoives is not in the volume. Burns deserves to be remembered with gratitude, if for nothing else, as being the discoverer of the melodic gem of this pastoral. There is no second part, and the verse and chorus are sung to the same music.

Wo. 115. On a bank of flowers in a summer day. Scots Musical

Museum, 1 790, No. .22/. 'Mr. Burns's words,' (Law's iJflS". Z/j/ ; Thomson's Scotish Airs. 1799, 8S). The original verses are English, copied into the last volume of The Tea-Table Miscellany, c. 1740. The author, Mr. Theobald, was a large contributor to the song-books of his day. For the sake of the melody popular in Scotland, Burns recast the original licentious verses, making a new song of them. The tune The bashftil lover is English, the composition of John Galliard, by birth a German, who came to London in early life and remained there. He was the composer of numerous good airs. The music is in Playford's Dancing

Master, 1728, entitled The bashful swain ; with Theobald's verses in Watts's Musical Miscellany, 1729, i. jo; in the Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786,

title of the song only is old ; the rest is mine ' {Interleaved Mztseum). The old song referred to is not known. To accommodate George Thomson, who wished a copy for his collection, Burns altered the fourth line in each stanza, and added a chorus to fit the verses for the tune Dainty Davie (see Song No. ijs)- The tune The Gardener's March, appropriated by the guild of gardeners,

is in Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. ijy, as stated by Burns on his MS. I doubt whether it is an authentic Scottish melody, and whether it is much older than its appearance in Aird's volume, Wo. 117. If thou should ask my love. Scots Musical Museum, 179c, No. 22^, entitled Jamie, come try me. In Law's MS. List: ' Mr. Burns's old words.' Written from a single line or title of an old song to resuscitate James Oswald's melody, printed in Curious Scots Tttnes, i'/42, ii. 26; and the Caledonian Pocket Companion, c. 1745, ii. J^. The tune is inteiesting, but its compass is too great for ordinary voices. No. 118. Hark the Mavis' e'ening sang. Currie, Works, iSoo, iv. 160. Scotish Airs, 1S05, 166. The MS. is at Brechin Castle. This second version

' of Cd the ewes was sent to Thomson in September, 1 794, with a note : In a solitary stroll which I took to-day, I tried my hand on a few pastoral lines, following up the idea of the chorus, which I would preserve.' Burns was aware of its inferiority to the original. Thomson divorced it from its proper melody, and set it to The maid that ; — —

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 391

tends the goats. For the tune, see No. 114. The Clouden is a small tributary of the Nith near Dumfries.

Wo. 119. 'When the drums do beat. Scots Musical Museum, 1790, No. 233, entitled The Caplaitis lady. I have definitely identified Barns with this song in the musical MS. made up for the engraver of the Aluseum. The poet entitled the tune Mount my baggage, then drew his pen through the words and wrote above them The Captahis lady, as printed in the Museiwi ;Gray's

' Museum Lists). In Law's MS. List, Burns wrote : Mr. Burns's old words.'

The following stanza is from an English song of the seventeenth century : ' I will away, and I will not tarry, I will away and be a Captain's lady. A Captain's lady is a dame of honour She has her maid ay to wait upon her, To wait upon her, and get all things ready, I will away and be a Captain's lady.'

Burns's first title is that of a ballad in the Dalmeny Collection, quoted in the Centenary Burns as The Liggar lady, or the ladle's love to a soldier, to the tune of Mount the baggage. This most prosaic production is apparently the original of Burns's verses. The tune with the title Mount my baggage is in Caledonian Pocket Companion,

1755, vii. 26, and in Bremner's Reels, 1768, log ; as the Cadie laddie, it is in

Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances ; and as Mount your baggage in Aird's Airs, 1782, ii. No. 74. A song Ramillies, attributed to one of the Sempills of

Beltrees, does not fit the tune. The first stanza and chorus reads thus : —

' My daddie marrie't me too young To an auld man baith deaf and dumb He laid beside me like a rung, He wadna turn unto his lassie.

Och ! laddie munt and go. sailor, Dear hoise and go ;

Och ! laddie, munt and go. Go, and I'se go with thee, laddie.' (Sempill's Poems, 1849, xcv.) Ifo. 120. Young Jockie was the blythest lad. Scots Musical Mtiseumy

' 1790, No. 2^7, signed Z ; ' Cromek's Reliques, 1808, 4^8. Hitherto this song has been accepted on the sole authority of Stenhouse, who stated that the whole of it, with the exception of three or four lines, was written by Burns. I have before me now the MS. music of the tune, and the words which Johnson proposed to insert in the Museum, entitled The devoted maid, by Dr. Blacklock, beginning ' My virgin heart when Jockey woo'd.' Twne, Jockey was the blythest lad in a' our town. The MS. was sent to Burns for his approval. He returned it with a note in the margin, in his own handwriting, ' Take Mr. Burns's old words,' so accordingly the song was changed, and his verses with the title were

' printed. In Law's MS. List he wrote : Mr. Burns's old words.' The Jockies and Jennys of the English parodies of Scots Songs are as common as black- berries in autumn. In The Goldfinch, 1771, is a song beginning 'Young Jockey was the blithest lad,' but it has little resemblance to Burns's song. The tune is &x\\XWtA Jockie the blithest in M^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1746, 36. It has the gait of an English melody. A different tune with the title Jockey was the blithest lad is in Atkinson'' s MS., 1694. In the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1755, vii. 8, there is a corrupted form of the melody.

No. 121. Sweet are the banks—the banks o' Doon. This is the first of three versions of the Banks d' Doon. Originally published in the Edinbtirgh edition, 1877, \\. jji. There is not much verbal difference between this and the 392 HISTORICAL NOTES next version sent to John Ballantine. The following is an extract from a letter, dated March ii, 1791, to Alexander Cunningham, enclosing a copy of the

' song : I have this evening sketched out a song which I had a great mind to send you, though I foresee that it will cost you another groat of postage. . . . My song is intended to sing to a strathspey, or reel, of which I am very fond, called in Cumming's Collection of Strathspeys Balk^idalloclis Keel, and in other collections that I have met with, it is known by the name of Cambdelmore. It takes three stanzas of four lines each to go through the whole tune. I shall give the song to Johnson for the fourth volume of his publication of Scots Songs which he has just now in hand.' This quotation disposes of the theory of Robert Chambers that The banks d Doon was written in 1787 for Peggy Kennedy, the unfortunate lady referred to in the note on Song No. 77. The recovery of the letter to Cunningham reveals the fact that the song was written for a particular tune practically unknown. Neither the words nor the music is in Johnson's Museum, and both are here printed together for the first time. It is entitled Cambdelmore in Bremner's Reels, 1761, 92; and in Stewart's Reels, 1763, //, as Ballendalloch; as Ballendalloch's Reel in Cumming's Strathspeys, 17S0, 7; and Gordon Castle in M*^Glashan's Strath- spey Reels, 1780, 26. Wo. 122. Ye flowery banks o' bonie Doon. Cromek's Reliques, 1808, J7. The second version of the song, which was enclosed in an undated letter

' addressed to John Ballantine, Ayr. The following is an extract : While here I sit, sad and solitary, by the side of a fire in a little country inn, and drying my wet clotlies, in pops a poor fellow of a sodger, and tells me he is going to spirits the Ayr. By Heavens ! say I to myself, with a tide of good which magic of that sound, Auld toon d Ayr, conjured up, I will send my last song to Mr. Ballantine.' The poet at this time was most likely on one of his excise expeditions. Ye flowery banks d bonie Doon is a distinct improvement on the first version, and Cromek's opinion of it in comparison with the third or popular set has been endorsed by all subsequent commentators. The redundant feet in the second and fourth lines of the popular stanza can easily be spared, and as a poem this short metre version is superb compared with it, although it is now hopeless to expect that the popular version will be displaced. No. 123. Ye banks and braes o' bonie Doon. In Scots Musical Mtiseum, 1792, No. ^7^, signed ' B,' entitled The banks d Doon. Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1798, ^j. The MS. is in the British Museum. 'Mr. B.'s old words' (Law's MS. List). Two bathetic stanzas, written by a music publisher, were added to the song, and printed in the Pocket Encyclopedia, Glasgow, 1816, i, 29. Why this, the popular version, was written in a different measure from the other two, has never been accurately ascertained. It is probably true that Burns altered the song against his will, but nowhere does he say so. It is quite certain that he approved the air now so popular (although it may be remarked in passing that the pen is drawn through the title Caledonian Hunt's Delight in the MS. in the British Museum), for in a letter to George Thomson in November, 1794, he recommended it for insertion in Scotish Airs at the cost of excluding another song to make room for it. He relates the story of the

' tune being composed a good many years ago ' by an amateur playing on the black keys of the harpsichord. A copy was given to Gow, who entitled it The Caledonian Hiinfs delight, and printed it for the first time in his second collection of Strathspey Reels, 1788, that is six years before Burns related its history to Thomson, and four years before it was printed with the verses in the Scots Musical Miisejim. In 1789, Burns wrote There was on a Time (Song No. 2j8) for the same tune. The origin of the air has been called in question, and its nationality disputed. The late William Chappell asserted that the amateur effected nothing more than the alteration of a note here and there of a melody which previously :

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 393 existed. On the difficulty of ascertaining the birth of tunes, Burns has a note

' in the same letter to Thomson as previously quoted : Now to shew you how difficult it is to trace the origin of our airs, I have heard it repeatedly asserted that this was an Irish air; nay, I met with an Irish gentleman, who affirmed he had heard it in Ireland among the old women ; while on the other hand, a lady of fashion, no less than a countess, informed me that the first person who introduced the air into this country was a baronet's lady of her acquaintance, who took down the notes from an itinerant piper in the Isle of Man. How difficult then to ascertain the truth, respecting our poesy and music ! I myself have lately seen a couple of ballads sung through the streets of Dumfries, with my name at the head of them as the author, though it was the first time I had ever seen them.' The editor of Graham's Songs of Scotland states that he saw a street song, entitled List, list, to my story, with the water-mark of the year 1801 on the paper, on which the tune, the same as The banks 0' Doon, was stated to be an Irish air. The Popular Music of the Olden Tivie of William Chappell is a monument of industry and research. He had as keen an eye for a date, as a cross-examining barrister, and although he often complains about their absence on musical works, it is a curious fact, that his Popular Music bears no date of publication either on the title-page or elsewhere. He contested the Scottish origin of the Banks o' Doon, because it was in Dale's Collection of English Songs. In this case his claim breaks down, because this collection was issued in 1794, and subsequent to the same publisher's Scotch Songs of that year. Without any evidence he accuses Stephen Clarke of inventing the story related by Burns, and of making the tune himself from Dale's English tune, Lost, lost is my quiet, without the intervention of any amateur to fit it for the Scots Musical Museum. As previously stated, tlie air was first printed in 178S, six years before it was copied into the ALuseum, and this date fits the

' story Burns related to Thomson, in 1 794, of the air having been made a good many years ago.' Whether it be a Scots, an English, or an Irish air need not be further discussed ; it has been preserved for more than a century entirely through Burns's song, first printed with the music in Museum, 1792. In Aird's Airs, 1794, iv. No. i}2, Lrish is affixed to the tune, entitled Caledonian LLunt's Delight, so that it appears there was a popular belief that the melody was Irish. No. 124. O stay, sweet warbling woodlark, stay. This, known as Address to the zvoodlark, is in Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1798, 26. 'Written for this work by Robert Burns.' The MS. is in the Thomson collection. This and twelve other songs were sent to Thomson between April and August, I79.S- They are evidence of the poet's remarkable mental activity although in bad health, and engaged in daily hard physical work. The first sketch of the song was copied by Scott-Douglas from a pencil MS. in the poet's handwriting. It is entitled Song. — Composed on hearing a bird sing while musing on Chloris —

' Sing on, sweet songster o' the brier, Nae stealthy traitor-foot is near, O sooth a hapless lover's ear, And dear as life I'll prize thee.

' Again, again that tender part, That I may learn thy melting art. For surely that v/ould touch the heart, O' her that still denies me.

' O, was thy mistress, too, imkind. And heard thee as the careless wind? For nocht but Love and Sorrow join'd Sic notes of woe could wauken.' — — ; —

394 HISTORICAL NOTES

Burns agreed with Thomson that the rhythm of Loch Eroch side suited the song, and on this general agreement it was printed with that tune in Scotish Airs. But the proper melody is Whare shall our gudeman lie ? or Where II honie Anttie lie? as marked on the copy of the verses sent to Thomson. For tune, see No. lo.

N"o. 125. O, saw ye my dearie, my Eppie M'^Wab ? Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. }];6, signed 'X,' entitled Eppie M'^Nab. The MS. is in the British Museum. An old song rewritten and purified for insertion in the Museum. ' The old song with this title has more wit than decency' {Interleaved

Museum). The fragment in the He)'d MS. is as follows :

' O, saw ye Eppie M'^Nab the day? O, saw ye Eppie M'^Nab the day ? She 's down in the yaird She 's kissing the laird She winna cum hame the day, the day. 'O, see to Eppie M°Nab as she goes, See to Eppie M'^Nab as she goes, With her corked heel shoon And her cockets aboon ; O, see to Eppie M^Nab as she goes.'

' ' In the Merry Muses is a revised song for the tune, in which occurs :

' Her kittle black een they wad thirl ye thro' Her rosebud lips cry. Kiss me just now,' &c.

The tune is in Curious Scots Tunes, 1742, 46; the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1754, vi. 18; Bremner's Reels, 1768,///; and a bad copy in Aird's Airs, 1782, ii. No. i6j. From its construction it is much older than the earliest date named.

No. 126. By love and by beauty. Scots Musical Museum, 1790, No. 281, entitled Eppie Adair. The MS. is in the British Museum among the Burns papers, and he there directs that the chorus should be sung to the first part of the tune, and the verse must be repeated to take up the second part.

The air is a very fine specimen of Scottish music in the minor mode ; but has probably been evolved into a double tune. The music in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, xi. i(), is entitled My Apple.

Wo. 127. O, luve -will venture in. Scots Musical Museum, 1 792, No. j"]), signed ' B,' entitled The posie. Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1798, j6, ' By Robert Burns.' MS. is in the British Museum. This song is not only chaste and beautiful, but is set to one of the best-constructed and most artistic melodies in the Scottish collections of the eighteenth century, yet it is entirely neglected, and is scarcely known. The lines were suggested to Burns on hearing his wife sing a street ballad There was a pretty May, which Cromek has printed in Reliqnes, 1808, 27/, but neither the Note nor the verses are in the Interleaved Museum. The substance of the Note is in an undated letter to Thomson about October, 1794. From this commonplace thing Burns wrote The posie, which mechanical critics say offends the unity of time, because the flowers named in the song do not bloom in the same season. The subject is a very old one in English poesy. Burns's song may be compared with A nosegaie alwaies sweet, of fifteen stanzas, in the unique volume, 'A Handefull ofpleasa^tt Delites. At London, 1584.' The last two stanzas are:

' Cowsloppes is for Counsell, for secrets vs between. and I should the thing we meane That none but you alone know ; And if you wil thus wisely do as I think to be best. Then have you surely won the field, and set my heart at rest. ; : : —

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 395

' I pray you keep this Nosegay wel, and set by it some store And thus farewel, the Gods thee guide, both now and evermore. Not as the common sort do vse, to set it in your brest That when the smel is gone away, on ground he takes his rest.' The tnne is an adaptation of Roslin Castle (see Song No. 313^. Whether

The Posie or Roslin Castle be the original cannot now be ascertained : the former is the simpler of the two. No. 128. Let loove sparkle in her e'e. Scots Musical Musetim, 1792, No. 3&1, entitled Jocky fou and Jenny fain. The MS. is in the British Museum. Burns added four lines to complete a stanza to Jockyfoti andJenny fain, taken from Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, 1725, and also made verbal

' alterations in the rest. He wrote on the MS. for the Museum : These are the

old words, and most excellent words they are. Set the music to them' (R. B ). The first four lines, not written by Bums, are within brackets. The tune is in Craig's Scots Tunes, 1730, 23. Wo. 129. How cruel are the parents. Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1799, //. 'Written for this work by Robert Burns.' Thomson wanted English verses iox John Anderson my jo, and he got them on May 9, 1795, such as they are. At the head of the MS. is written, ' Song altered from an old English one,' which is said to be in The Hive, 1733, but it is not in the earlier edition, 1725-7. The verses are in Muse's Delight, 17,^4, spi, and Burns has adhered to the sentiment of them. In Bickham's Mtcsical Entertainer, 1737,

ii. 68, the daughters take the business into their own hands, as follows :

' When parents obstinate and cruel prove, And force us to a man we cannot love 'Tis fit we disappoint the sordid elves And wisely get us husbands for ourselves.' This they sing to the music of Henry Carey. For the air of Burns's verses, see No. .27.2. Wo. 130. The smiling Spring comes in rejoicing. Scots Musical Mttsettm, 1792, No. jSj, signed 'B,' entitled Bonie Bell. A MS. of this joyous song, by an amanuensis, is in the British Museum among the Burns papers. Burns does not refer to it in any way, and the only confirmatory evidence, which is quite good, is the initial at the end of the song in Johnson's

' Ahtseum. Stenhouse says : This is another production of Burns, who also communicated the tune to which the words are set in the Museum.' {^Illustra-

tions, p. JXf .) I have not found any earlier copy of the tune. K"o. 131. "Where Cart rins rowin to the sea. Scots Musical Museu7n, 1792, No. 38(), signed ' R,' entitled The gallant weaver. 'Mr. B.'s old words '(Law's MS. List). Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1798,^9. The MS. is in the British Museum. The Cart, a stream of moderate pretentions, is known chiefly as furnishing a river to the ancient burgh of Paisley in Renfrewshire. The city of weavers is reported to have given birth to more poets than any town in Scotland. ' The chorus of this song is old, the rest of it is mine. Here, once for all, let me apologize for many silly compositions of mine in this work [jScots Mtcsical Museiutf\. Many beautiful airs wanted words; in the hurry of other avocations, if I could string a parcel of rhymes together any- thing near tolerable, I was fain to let them pass. He must be an excellent poet indeed, whose every performance is excellent' {Interleaved Museurji).

The tune is in Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. i'j4, entitled IVeaver's March, or Twcnty-first of August. It has not the character of a Scottish melody. The Hew Stvedish Dance, in the Alusical Pocket- Book. c. 171 5, resembles the tune. Thomson printed Burns's song in his musical collection, and without authority changed the 'weaver' into a 'sailor,' and set it to The auld wife ayont the fire. Mr. John Glen has found the tune in the Dancing Master, 1728, entitled Frisky Jenny, or the Tenth of June. — ; ;

396 HISTORICAL NOTES

No. 132. I do confess thou art sae fair. Scois Musical Museiwi, 1792, No. j2i, signed ' Z.' ' This song is altered from a poem by Sir Robert Ayton, private secretary to Mary and Anne, Queens of Scotland. I think that I have improved the simplicity of the sentiments, by giving them a Scots dress' {Interleaved Aluseiini). Tlie MS. is in the British Museum. Burns's opinion is not shared by posterity, which thinks that the original verses have not been improved. The original in four stanzas of six lines, with music by Henry Lawes, is in Playford's Select Ayres, 1659. The words alone are in Watson's Scots Poems, 1711, gi. The tune with the title Come ashore, jolly tar is in Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. igo, and I conjecture that the music in the Museum was copied from that work. In Hogg^s Jacobite Relics, 1819, i. iii is a song The Cuckoo, applied to the Old Pretender. The last stanza is as follows :

' The Cuckoo 's a bonny bird, but far frae his hame I ken him by the feathers that grow upon his kame And round that double kame yet a crown I hope to see, For my bonny cuckoo, he is dear to me.'

The tune in Rutherford's Dances, c. 1770, is entitled The Cuckoo's Nest. No one has yet given a rational or satisfactory reason why James VIII was called the Cuckoo. Charles Mackay supposed that the Pretender was expected in spring to chase away the winter of the discontent of his followers. To which I may be permitted to add that when he did come he was not much appreciated, and, like the cuckoo, made a very short stay. Bunting has claimed the music for Ireland, and states it is in a music- book of the early eighteenth century. The tune is not in the Scottish style. Wo. 133. Wliare live ye, my bonie lass? Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. j6i, entitled My collier laddie. The MS. is in the British Museum, but the song is not otherwise referred to by Burns in his works. According to Stenhouse, the words and the tune were transmitted by Burns to the editor of the MuseH?ii, where both were printed for the first time. There is no earlier record of the music. A song in the Merry Muses is marked for the tune of The collier laddie. M"o. 134. In simmer, when the hay -was mawn. Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. j66, signed ' B,' entitled Country Lassie. The MS. is in the British Museum. In a letter to George Thomson, October 19, 1794, Burns admits having written the song. Thomson printed it without authority in Select Melodies, 1822, ii. 24, to the tune oijolui, come kiss me noiv. The Scottish tune, The country lass of the text, is in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1733, No. 38, with English verses written by Martin Parker, which Allan Ramsay copied, with variations, into the Tea-Table Miscellany. The English tune of the same title is that to which Sally in our Alley is now sung, en- titled Cold and raw in Durfey's Pills, 1719, iv. 7/2. A third tune for the verses was The mother beguiled t/ie daughter. Burns's song does not in the least resemble the English version, nor does the tune in the Orpheus, or in

M^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1768, iv.

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 397

Wo. 136. When o'er the hill the e'ening star. Currie, Works, 1800, iv. 8. Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1805, 751/. The MS. is in the Thomson collection at Brechin Castle. This is the first song Burns sent to George Thomson; with 'eastern star' in the first line. In reply, Burns wrote to

' Thomson ; Let me tell you that you are too fastidious in your ideas of songs

and ballads. I own that your criticisms are just ; the songs you specify in your list have, all but one, the faults you remark in them — but who shall mend the matter?—who shall rise up and say, "Go to, I will make a better?" For instance, on reading over The lea-7-ig, I immediately set about trying my hand on it, and after all, I could make nothing more of it than the following, which Heaven is poor enough' {^Letter, request knows October 26, 1 792). At Thomson's Burns rewrote the third stanza and made some verbal changes in the rest. An earlier song, My ain kind dearie, 0, in the Mitsetim suggested the verses. In the Interleaved Musetun Burns quotes a still older version :

' I'll rowe thee o'er the lea-rig, My ain kind dearie, O I'll rowe thee o'er the lea-rig, My ain kind dearie, O. Altho' the night were ne'er sae wat, And I were ne'er sae weary, O I'll rowe thee o'er the lea-rig, My ain kind dearie, O.'

A song for the tune is in the Merry Muses, and two different fragments are in the Herd MS. The tune The lea-rig or My ain kind dearie, 0, probably belongs to the seventeenth century. It is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, c. 1756, viii. 20; in Bremner's Reels, 1760, 76; Campbell's Reels, 1778, 18; Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. 44; and the Scots Musical Museum, 1787, No. 4(). The original has neither a fourth nor a seventh of the scale. Burns remonstrated about corrupting the airs in a letter April, 1793, to Thomson, who often disregarded the injunction. The modern form of the melody is given in the text, and was discovered too late to make an alteration.

Wo. 137. Braw, braw lads on Yarrow braes. Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1793, \. II. 'Written for this work by Robert Burns. Air, Galla Water.' Framed on an older pastoral song of the Borderland and the rornantic country of Tweeddale. Burns wrote his Galla Water in January, 1793, and sent it in a letter to Thomson, with the following remarks illustrating his interest

' in music : I should also like to know what other songs you print to each tune besides the verses to which it is set. In short, I would wish to give you my opinion on all the poetry you publish.' A fragment of an earlier anonymous song is in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, j/j? :

' Braw, braw lads of Galla-water, braw lads of Galla-water, I'll kilt my coats below my knee, And follow my love thro' the water.

'Sae fair her hair, sae brent her brow, Sae bonny blue her een, my dearie, Sae white her teeth, sae sweet her mou', 1 aften kiss her till I 'm wearie.

' O'er yon bank, and o'er yon brae. O'er yon moss amang the hether, I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, And follow my love thro' the water,'

The tune is in the Caledonian Pocket Compaction, c. 1756, viii. 28 ; Stewart's Scots Songs, 1772, /, adapted to a song of different metre; Scots Musical — — ; ;;

398 HISTORICAL NOTES

Museum, 17S8, No. 12^, with Herd's verses ; in Ritson's Scotish Songs, 1794, i. iii. 84 ; and Dale's Scotch Songs, 163. It is a model of simplicity and dignity. In many modern copies it is corrupted by closing on the key-note, with the introduction of the leading note.

No. 138. O mirk, mirk is this midnight hour. Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1798, }8. 'Written for this work by Robert Burns. Air, Lord Gregory.' Among the Dalhousie MS. in Brechin Castle. The tragic ballad of Lord Gregory, containing about sixty stanzas, better known as Fair Annie of L.ochryan, is the foundation of Burns's verses. The earliest printed fragment 0' is in Herd's Scottish Songs, i'j'j6, i. 14^, entitled The bonny lass Lochryan. Two double stanzas, with the tune, were engraved in the Scots Musical Museum, 1787, No. /. This was one of the few historical ballads which made an impression on Burns. Thomson had informed him that Dr. Wolcot had written a song on the subject, and he replied on January 26, 1 793, by enclosing a copy of the verses in the text. A few weeks before his death. Burns touched up the song, and sent a copy to his friend Alex. Cunningham. The tune is not in print before the Scots Musical Museum, 1787, No./. According to Stenhouse, it is an old Gallwegian melody. The music is also in Urbani's Scots Songs, 1792, i ; and Dale's Scotch Songs, -ii^^, iii. iig.

No. 139. There 's auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen. In Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1793, zy. ' Written for this work by Robert Burns.' The original vigorous song of the seventeenth century describes an old man in a dialogue between a girl and her mother, who recommends Rob as a husband.

Two stanzas of the rough-cast ditty may be quoted :

Daughter. ' Auld Rob Morris, I ken him fou weel. His back sticks out like ony peet creel He's out-shin'd, in-knee'd, and ringle-ey'd, too; Auld Rob Morris is the man I'll ne'er loo.

Mother. ' Tho' auld Rob Morris be an elderly man, Yet his auld brass will buy a new pan Then, dochter, ye should na be sae ill to shoo, For auld Rob Morris is the man ye maun loo.'

Burns's song is on the same subject, but treated differently. He informed

' Thomson, on November 14, 1792 : I have partly taken your idea oi Auld Rob Morris, and am going on with the song on a new plan, which promises pretty well.' On December 4 the song was completed. The old words are in the

Tea-Table Miscellany , 1724, and Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, 10. The tune is in Blackie's MS., 1692, under the title Jock the laird's brither.

The old song and tune are in the Orpheus Caledonitts, 1725, No. jo ; in Watts's Musical Miscellany, 1730, iii. 174; Ritson's Scotish Songs, 1794, '^-176, and the Scots Musical Museum, 1788, No. 1^2. The music alone is in Craig's Scots

Tunes, 1730, 4J ; the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1754, vi. 9; M'^Gibbon's Scots Ttmes, 1755, 10, and elsewhere. The compass of the tune is rather extended for the present generation.

No. 140. Here a'wa, there awa, -wandering "Willie. Scotish Airs, 1793, 2. ' Written for this work by Robert Burns.' Among the Thomson MS. in Brechin Castle. The original song of the name was printed in Herd's Scots

Songs, 1769, 2gi ; and with the tune in the Scots Musical Museum, 1787, No. jj. The first stanza in Herd is :

' Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie, Here awa, there awa, here awa hame Lang have I sought thee, dear have I bought thee, Now I have gotten my Willie again.' ! — ;

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 399

In Gray's MS. Lists, Burns quotes the following stanza, which he states must be added, and says it is 'the best in the song.' The stanza has never been printed until now.

' Gin ye meet my love, kiss her and clap her, And gin ye meet my love, dinna think shame Gin ye meet my love, kiss her and clap her. And shew her the way to had awa hame.'

Burns's song, which he sent to Thomson in March, 1783, is entirely different, except the title. A committee of taste suggested some alterations, which Burns partly adopted. The verses in the text are the final result in April. The tune in the Caledotiian Pocket Coinpanion, c. 1756, viii. /, is entitled

Here azva', WtUie ; and as Uere awa, there awa in M'^Gibbon's Scots Tunes,

1768, iv. 108 ; Bremner's Second Series Scots Songs, 1757, 11; Perth Musical

Miscellany, 1786, i"] ; Calliope, 1788, 136; and Ritson's Scotish Songs, 1794, i. 86.

No. 141. O, open the door some pity to shew. Scotish Airs, 1793, i. 21. 'As altered by Robert Burns.' Sent to Thomson in March, 1793, with the remark, ' I do not know whether this song be really mended.' The original song has hitherto eluded research, and has given rise to some curiosity. The verses and air of the original are in Corri's Scots Songs, 1783, ii. jo; in the Perth Musical Miscellany, i786,/o7; and in Calliope, 1788,2/.— The following are the pathetic verses from Corri, marked for an Irish Air :

' It 's open the door some pity to shew,

It 's open the door to me, oh ! Tho' you have been false, I'll always prove true. So open the door to me, oh

' Cold is the blast upon my pale cheek,

But colder your love unto me, oh I Tho' you have, &c.

' She 's open'd the door, she 's open'd it wide,

She sees his pale corpse on the ground, oh 1 Tho' you have, &c.

* My true love, she cry'd, then fell down by his side,

Never, never to shut again, oh I Tho' you have,' &c.

It is reminiscent of the old ballad of Lord Gregory, only that it is he who dies claiming admission, and not she. Burns has compressed the last two stanzas into one, using the refrain only in his first stanza, and making verbal alterations, sometimes not for the better. His third stanza is original, and with

unerring instinct Carlyle detected Burns's hand in :

' The wan moon sets behind the white wave. And time is setting with me, O,' &c.

Thomson made material alterations in the air. In Ireland it is known as

Open the door softly. It is in Bunting's Irish Alelodies, 1796 ; and Edward Nagle, who lived about 1760, wrote verses for it, beginning, 'As I wandered abroad in the purple of dawn.' Also, Tom Moore's fine song, ' She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,' was written for Sarah Curran, the lover of Robert Emmet, the young Irish rebel who was executed. A corrupted setting of the air is 'Ho. ^84 of the Scots Musical Museum, 1803. No. 142. Lang hae we parted, been. Scots Musical Museu7n, 1790, No. 218. ' Mr. Burns's old words' (Law's MS. List). Doubtless there was an old song, but it is uncertain how much of the two stanzas were written by Burns. He stated to Thomson that he did not know the tune Laddie lie near me well enough to write for it. The note by Burns in the Interleaved 400 HISTORICAL NOTES

Mtiseuf/i, that Laddie lie near me is by Dr. Blacklock, refers to the first song for the tune in the Museum, beginning, ' Hark, the loud trumpet.' Lady lie near me, in Playford's Dancing Master, 1650, is in the same measure, but there is no resemblance to Oswald's tune except in the rhythm. This English tune served many songs, and was popular about the period of the Restoration. The original seems to be a black-letter ballad, entitled, ' The longitig Shepherdess, or Lady lie near me, printed by W. Thackery at the Angel in Duck Lane^ Still less resemblance is there to an English tune, J^enny, come tye my cravat, m Apollo's Banquet, 1687. Wherever the original verses are to be discovered, upon which Burns founded his song, they are not in either of the English songs. See No. loi.

Wo. 143. By Allan stream I chane'd to rove. Scotish Airs, 1799, 79. 'Written for this work by Robert Burns. Air, Allan Water.'' One of the Thomson MS. How this pastoral was written in (? August, 1793) is described as follows : ' I walked out yesterday evening with a volume of the Museum in my hand, when turning up Allan Water, " What numbers shall the muse repeat," it appeared to me rather unworthy of so fine an air, and recollecting that it is in your list, I sat and raved under the shade of an old thorn, till I wrote one to suit the measure. I may be wrong, but I think it is not in my worst

style. You must know that in Ramsay's Tea- Table Miscellany , where the modern song first appeared, the ancient name of the tune, Allan says, is Allan Water, or, My love Annie 'j very bottie. This last has certainly been a line of the original song; so I took up the idea, and, as you see, have introduced the line

in its place, which I presume it formerly occupied ; though 1 give you a choosing line if it should not hit the cut of your fancy.'

The music oi Allan Water is in Blaikie's MS., i6g2 ; Atkinsons MS., 1694 ; Original Scotch Tunes, 1700; Sinklers MS., 1710; Caledotiiafi Pocket Com-

; with verses in panion, 1752, iv. 2j M<=Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1742, j4 ; and

Orphetis Caledonius, 1733, No. 2^ ; Scots Musical Museiivi, 1787, No. 4^, and Dale's Scotch Songs, 1794, ii. 72. 'This Allan Water, which the composer of the music has honoured with the name of the air, I have been told, is Allan Water, in Strathallan ' {^Interleaved Musentn).

No. 144. I fee'd a man at Martinmas. Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. j<)4, entitled can ye labour lea. The MS. is in the British Museum. An amended version of an equivocal rustic song in the Merry Muses, which differs slightly from that here printed. Cromek, in Select Scotish Songs, 1810,

' ii. 40, remarks : This song has long been known among the inhabitants of Nithsdale and Galloway, where it is a great favourite.' This is the tune which George Thomson copied from the Scots Musical Museum, and printed for the first time in 1799 as the melody of Burns's Auld lang syne. See Song No. 2^4. Wo. 145. As down the burn they took their way. Currie, Works, 1800, iv. iij. Written at the request of Thomson, to replace a stanza in a song by William Crawford, beginning, ' When trees did bud,' originally printed in the Tea-Table Miscellany, 1724. Burns at first declined to touch the song, but Thomson prevailed, with the unsuccessful result in the text. In Select Melodies,

1822, iii. II, Thomson replaced Burns's stanza by some vapid lines of his own ; as he said Burns ' did not bring the song to the desirable conclusion.'

The tune, with Crawford's verses, is in the Orphetis Caledonius, 1725, No. jo ; in Bremner's Scots Songs, 1757, 27; the Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786, i, and the Scots Musical Museum, 1787, No. 7.^. The tune alone is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1752, iv. i&, and M'Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1742, _y. According to a tradition related by Riddell in the Interleaved Museum, David Maigh, a keeper of the hounds of the Laird of Riddell in Tweeddale, was the composer. Tradition here is probably wrong. — —

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 401

No. 146. O, were my love yon lilac fair. Cunie, Works, 1800, iv. y6. Scotish Airs, 1805, 1^4. The MS. is at Brechin Castle. Only the first eight lines are the work of Bums. Enclbsing the poem in a letter of June 25, 1793, ' Burns writes thus : The thought is inexpressibly beautiful, and quite, so far as I know, original. It is too short for a song, else I would forswear you altogether, except you give it a place. I have often tried to eke a stanza to it, but in vain. After balancing myself for a musing for five minutes on the hind-legs of my elbow-chair, I produced the following. [That is, the first eight lines in the text.] The verses are far inferior to the foregoing [The fragment the last eight lines], I frankly confess ; but, if worthy of insertion at all, they might be first in place, as every poet, who knows anything of his trade, will husband his best thoughts for a concluding stroke.' This little lyric was dreadfully mutilated by the editor. Thomson suggested Hnghie Graham as the tune, and while Burns agreed that the measure would suit, he was doubtful whether it would properly express the verses. The poet was evidently not familiar with the proper tune, and modelled his stanza from the fragment which he got from Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, ii. .^.

Thomson's imprint was a curious piece of patchwork ; at least five authors were in y'\. represented the poetry and music. In his Select Melodies, 1825, J2, the poetry is in three stanzas : the first by Burns as in the text, the second by a Mr. Richardson, and the third is the anonymous original. As to the melody — an imitation of that in the text—the first part is the composition of a lady correspondent, the second part is the work of the editor. Another old song of three stanzas on the threadbare theme is in the

Herd MS., and the middle one runs as follows :

' O, if my love was a bonny red rose. And growing upon some barren wa', And I myself a drap of dew, Down in that red rose I would fa'.

The song has rarely been printed with its proper melody. In the Scots Musical Aluseum, 1803, No. j-p^?, it is set to Lord Balgonie's favourite, now better known as Gloomy zvinter's noo azua, probably because the proper tune had been appropriated to another song in the volume, beginning, ' Gently blaw, ye western breezes.'

A bad setting of the proper tune, Gin my love were yon red rose, is in Macfarlan MS., 1740, entitled Under her apron; and in the Scots Musical Riuseum, 1803, No. j'<52.

No. 147. Simmer's a pleasant time. Scots Musical Museum, 1790, No. 21J. In Law's MS., 'Mr. Burns's old words.' A fragment from which

Burns completed this song is in the Herd MS. : —

' O wat, wat and weary, Sleep I can get nane For thinking on my deary. A' the night I wak, A' the night I weary. Sleep I can get nane For thinking on my deary.'

The origin of this peculiar lyric has exercised the pens of numerous critics. In the same year as it was published in the Museum, a version appeared in Napier's Scots Songs, i. 61, with the best form of the music as in our text, which was communicated from the MS. of Robert Riddell, the friend of Burns. A reprint of Napier's music was published in the Museum of 1792, No. _?

402 HISTORICAL NOTES

The melody is remarkable for its brevity and simplicity. Tytler, Ritson, and other antiquarians considered it much earlier than its recorded first appearance. Ritson stated that the fragment of eight lines printed in his Scotish Songs, 1794, i. 4^ (with music as in our text), was dictated to him many years ago by a young gentleman, who had it from his grandfather. Thomson spoiled the character of the music with a modern dress in Select Melodies, 1822, iii. 79.

To the Song, No. 9.2, sup. ' Can I cease to care,' he added a line at the end of each verse in order to fit the rhythm of the music, which he altered to close the air

on the tonic. Those editorial ' improvements' were doubtless made to elaborate the music. The setting of the chorus of the air in the text from Napier's Songs differs considerably from that of our No. ^2, which I consider is nearer the original air.

No. 148. G-o, fetch to me a pint o' wine. Scots Musical Museum, 1790, No. 2}i, entitled My Bonie Mary; Thomson's Scotish Airs, 1805, i8q, with a wrong tune. The MS. of these brilliant verses is in the British Museum. Sent to Mrs. Dunlop in a letter, dated December 17, 1788: 'Now I am on my hobby-horse, I cannot help inserting two other old stanzas, which please : me mightily ' then follows a copy of Aly bonie Mary. Subsequently he ' ' writes : This air is Oswald's ; the first stanza of the song is old, the rest mine {^Interleaved Musetmi). His object in concealing himself as the author is not very obvious, but probably it was to record his opinion of the verses. The following fragment is printed on the frontispiece of the second volume of Morison's Scotish Ballads, 1790, evidently a part of some undiscovered song:

' The loudest of thunder o'er louder waves roar That's naething like leaving my love on the shore.' An engraving represents the parting of two lovers, and a boat on the beach close by. Peter Buchan, the editor oi Ancient Ballads, 1828, and other collections, professed to have recovered the first four lines of this song written, as he said in 1636, by Alexander Lesley, grandfather of the celebrated Archbishop Sharp. The Rev. Alexander Dyce, the Shakespearian editor, believed Buchan to be absolutely untrustworthy. His opinion would be spoiled by any paraphrase,

' so here are his words : This Buchan, whom I once endeavoured to assist in his poverty, by procuring purchasers of his books, was a most daring forger scarcely anything that he has published can be trusted to as genuine.' Dean Christie, in his Traditional Ballad Airs, 1876, gets Buchan into a tight place over a statement that Hugh Allan, the author of The pipers 0' Btichan, could not write a simple letter. Christie says that Allan, on the contrary, was a good mathematician and theologian, that he taught his father mathematics, which first induced him to study the science. ( Traditional Ballad Airs, 1876, i. j5.) The tune, by James Oswald, is in Universal Harino7iy, 1745, loS, entitled The stolen Kiss; in the Caledotiian Pocket Companion, 1752, iv. 2], The secret Kiss. Burns was not quite satisfied with his choice of a melody, for in September, i793i lie suggested to George Thomson that as it precisely suited the measure of the air, Waes my heart that we should sunder, he might set it to this. Thomson did not act on the advice, but printed it to The old highland laddie, which subsequent compilers have adopted. Burns's alternative melody, Waes my heart that we should sunder, is a characteristic tune printed in Original Scotch Tunes, 1700 ; also in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1725, No. 9.

!N"o. 149. Young Jamie, pride of a' the plain. Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No. 420. The MS. is in the British Museum, marked for the tune The carlin of the glen, and Stenhouse was the first who claimed the song for Burns. Nothing is known of its history. The tune is said to be in Clark's Flores Musicac, I'j'js, with the title; but the music is evidently derived from the — ' — '

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 403

Scottish form of Barbara Allan, which is in Oswald's Curious Collection,

1740, _j, and Caledonian Pocket Companion, c. 1745, ii. 2j. No. 150. ilee balou, my sweet "wee Donald. Scots Musical Museum,

1796, No. .^7.2, entitled The Highland balou. Stenhouse says : 'This curious song is a versification, by Burns, of a Gaelic nursery song, the literal import of which, as well as the air, were communicated to him by a Highland lady. The bard's original MS. is in the Editor's possession.' i^Illicstrations , p. 416^ The MS., entitled ' Fragment,' is in the British Museum. The morality of the Highland cateran was that of the chosen people, who thought it no wrong to spoil the ' Egyptians.' The relation of the Celt to the Sassenach, and to the rights of property, are the subject of a conversation between Evan Dhu and Waverley on Donald Bean Lean and his daughter

Alice :

' Oich, for that,' said Evan, * there is nothing in Perthshire that she need

want, if she ask her father to fetch it, unless it be too hot or too heavy.' ' But to be the daughter of a cattle stealer—a common thief! 'Common thief!—no such thing; Donald Bean Lean never lifted less than a drove in his life.' * ' Do you call him an uncommon thief, then ? 'No, he that steals a cow from a poor widow or a stirk from a cottar is a thief; he that lifts a drove from a Sassenach laird is a gentleman drover. And, besides, to take a tree from the forest, a salmon from the river, a deer from the hill, or a cow from a Lowland strath, is what no Highlander need ever think shame upon.' ( Waverley, chap, xviii.)

The original tune is in Johnson's Musetim. Robert Schumann, the German composer, adopted the theme, and treated it classically in his Liederkreis, opus 2J.

No. 151. O, saw ye my dear, my Philly. Currie, Works, 1800, iv. 1J4, entitled Sazv ye my Philly. Tune, When she cam ben she babbit. The MS. is in Brechin Castle. A prosaic version oi Eppie M'^Nab (Song No. 72;), furnished to Thomson in October, 1794. Burns advised the editor how the

' tune should be printed : Let me offer at a new improvement, or rather a restoring of old simplicity, in one of your newly-adopted songs :

' When she cam ben she bobbit [a crotchet stop) When she ben she bobbit crotchet stop) cam ; (« And when she cam ben, she kissed Cockpen, And syne denied that she did it' (a crotchet stop).

This is the old rhythm, and by far the most original and beautiful. Let the harmony of the bass at the stops be full, and thin and dropping through the rest of the air, and you will give the tune a noble and striking effect.' Thomson acted on this excellent advice, and adopted the pauses as indicated. Haydn, the celebrated composer who harmonized the tune for Scotish Airs, filled the vocal blanks with a single instrumental chord. For the tune, see Song No. igi, where Burns did not treat the ' old words in the way he advised Thomson.

No. 152. My luve is like a red, red rose. Urbani's Scots Songs, 1794, with an original melody. Scots Musical Mtcseum, 1796, No. 402, signed 'R,' entitled A Red, red rose. Scotish Airs, 1799, 8^, 'from an old MS. in the editor's possession.' The make-up of a song which Burns learnt in his youth. Several variants of it are printed in the Hogg and Motherwell's Burns, 1 8 34, ii. 2']4, and in the Centenary edition. The first four lines Burns altered, the second he left untouched, the third he materially altered, and the last four lines are almost, if not the identical words of the old song. The rest he discarded ; and like nearly everything he touched, he transformed dead or commonplace D d 2 ; — —

404 HISTORICAL NOTES

verses into living, emotional song. The MS. is in the British Museum, and

' contains this note : The tune of this song is in Niel Gow's first collection, and is there called Major GrahuTn.^ The first three stanzas are in the Museum as No. 402, to the tune Major Graham. One of the chap-books, containing a version of the ballad, belonged to Burns in his youth. Some of the variants are in the metre o^ Mally Stezvart of Song No. 2g6, as the following opening verses of The Turtle Dove ; or Triie love'' sfarewell, will show:

' O fare you well, my own true love, O farewell for a while, But I'll be sure to return back again If I go ten thousand miles, my dear, If I go ten thousand miles.'

Thomson printed My luve is like a red., red 7'ose, and with his usual propensity to improve, he chose a tune of double measure, and altered the

' ' song to fit it. For example : And fare thee weel awhile' becomes And fare thee weel a little while,' truly a water-logged addition. The tune Major Grahani is in Aird's Airs, 1788, iii. No. /_>7, and Gow's Strathspeys, 1784, 6. It is unconsciously framed on the lines of Miss Admiral Goi'don's Strathspey, No. 6^ supra.

No. 153. The ploughman, he 's a bonie lad. Scots Musical Museum, 1788, No. 16s. A new or amended version of a rustic song taken from Herd's Scots Songs, i'j()g,jij, to furnish words for the tune. The second and third stanzas in the Museum, as follows, are taken from Herd, and improved :

' My ploughman he comes hame at e'en, He's aften wat and weary: Cast aff the wat, put on the dry. And gae to bed, my dearie.

'I will wash my ploughman's hose. And I will dress his o'erlay I will mak my ploughman's bed, And cheer him late and early.'

The rest, considerably altered by Burns, is in the te,\t. Another song of the same kind is sequestered in the Merry Muses. The tune The Ploughtnan is in the Caledonia7i Pocket Companion, 1752, iv. 6; in

Brenmer's Reels, 1761, 8g ; in the Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786, 248, entitled Merry Plowman; and in Aird's Airs, 1782, ii. No. 41. A tune Sleepy body in the Orpheus Caledonitis, 1733, No. /o, although in different measure, is substantially the same melody. The music for the chorus of The Ploughman is the same for the verse. ^

Wo. 154. Thou hast left me ever, Jamie. Scotish Airs, 1799, 90. ' Written for this work by R. I'urns.' After bearing Fraser play the tune

Fee him, father, fee him, Burns wrote to George Thomson, in September, 1793 : 'I enclose you Fraser's set of this tune; when he plays it slow, in fact he makes it the language of despair. I shall here give you two stanzas in that style, merely to try if it will be any improvement. Were it possible, in singing, to give it half the pathos which Fraser gives it in playing, it would make an admirable pathetic song. I do not give these verses for any merit they have.' Thomson kept the song for six years, altered yawzV into Tam, and what is more deplorable, set it to the tune My boy Taminie. Thomas Fraser was a native of Edinburgh, and the principal oboe player in the orchestral concerts of the city at the end of the eighteenth century. G. F. Graham, who knew Fraser personally, confirmed Burns's opinion of him as a musician. He died in 1S25. — — — ! !

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 405

Bums, in the Interleaved Museum, says: 'This song for genuine humour in the verses, and lively originality in the air is unparalleled. I take it to be very old.' The verses of Fee him, father, fee hiiii are in The Charmer, Edinburgh, 1752; the last stanza is:—

' O, fee him, father, fee him, quo' she, Fee him, fee him, fee him. He'll had the pleugh, thrash in the barn, And crack wi' me at e'en, quo' she, And crack wi' me at e'en.'

The song is also in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, 7.?, and vi^ith music in Bremner's Scots Songs, I757> ^- With different words in Cito and Euterpe, 1762, ii. lyi, entitled A new Scotch song; and Scots Musical Aluseum, 1787, No. p. The tune alone is in M^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1768, iv. g8. The earliest publication of verses and music in a corrupted form is in Walsh's

Original Scotch Songs, c. 1 740.

No. 155. My heart is sair—I darena tell. Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No. 4^6, signed 'B,' entitled 'For the sake o" Somebody.' The MS. is in the British Museum. In ^SinKa-ys Miscellany, 1725, there is a song of no con- spicuous merit with the same title. Burns took the chorus, and made new verses. Here is a stanza of the commonplace verses of Ramsay to show the

alteration Burns effected :

' I am gaun to seek a wife, I am gaun to buy a plaidie, I have three stane of woo', Carling, is thy daughter ready?'

' The Jacobites used the indefinite somebody ' as a synonym for the Pretender, and patchwork verses referring to the royal line are in the Jacobite collections.

A stanza runs : ' If Somebody were come again, Then Somebody maun cross the main ; And ilka ane will get his ain, And I will see my Somebody.' Burns's tenderly pathetic love-song treats the passion in a lofty and dignified manner. An unwieldy melody by Allan Masterton, based on the original tune, was communicated to the editor of the Mttseum, and rejected. Bums wrote underneath the music that * it was difficult to set.' Underneath the copy of another cramped tune by Masterton, Burns remarked that ' the notation

of the music seemed incorrect, but I send it as I got it ' (Gray's AIS. Lists). For a copy of the tune For the sake

i^^E^^ESa i EE -*^"

------O hon ! for Some bo dy O hey ! for Some bo dy !

=?V=: B^ ?si_| i ^^^< -0'-, s_

I could range the world a - round For the sake o' Some - bo • dy ; —

4o6 HISTORICAL NOTES

The tune of a forgotten and now unknown song, entitled / have waked the winter's nights, corresponding to a line in Burns's song, is in a Dutch music book, Friesche Lust-Nof, i 634. The song in the Tea- Table Miscellany may probably have been sung to that tune, or another, Carlin, is yotir daughter ready? in Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. 24. Wo. 156. The "Winter it is past. Scots Musical Museum^ 17887 No. 200, entitled The wiftter it is past. Cromek printed the first two stanzas in the Keliqties, 1808, 446, and other versions vary. Burns wrote only the second stanza, and corrected the first ; the rest was printed before his time as a stall- ballad. The song of seven stanzas is in the Herd MS. Dr. Petrie has copied it into the Ancient Music of Ireland. From the beauty of the melody it had a wide range of popularity ; Dean Christie took it down from the singing of a native of Banffshire, and inserted the words and music (much different from our text) in Traditional Ballad Ai7-s, 1876, 1.114. The original song (imperfectly authenticated) belongs to the middle of the eighteenth century, and was written on a highwayman called Johnson, who was hung in 1750 for robberies committed in the Ctirragh of Kildare. The tune is in the Caledonian Pocket Co77ipanion, 1759, x. 9. Both poetry and music, so far as dates are concerned, make it a Scottish song. No. 157. Comin. thro' the rye, poor body. Scots Musical Musetim, 1796, No. 41'], signed ' B.' ' This song was written by Burns ' (Stenhouse, Illustrations, ' ' p. J77). Burns wrote against the title : Tune, Miller's Wedding—a Strathspey (Gray's MS. Lists). Evidence exists that the bob of this jingle was very popular in Scotland in the eighteenth century. A private version of the song is in the Merry Muses. A later edition of the Miiseuni states that Comin thro' the rye was ' written for this work by Robert Burns.' Chappell, with patriotic fervour, tried to show that a pantomime song, with the title, &c., entered in Stationers' Hall, June 6, 1796 (Burns died on July 21) was the original of the class. But

( ) then very ill, his Muses copy was earlier than I Burns was ( 2) Merry much the date named, and (3) he was acquainted wilh a considerable portion of the posthumous fifth volume of the Museum, printed December, 1796. Chappell's object was to annex the tune to England, it being a variant oi Atild tang syne. Cotnin thro' the 7ye has been popular in England since the close of the eighteenth century, and it renewed the imitations of the ' Scots' snap.' For the tune and its variants, see Nos. 144 and 2J4. In Bremner's Reels, 1759, .^z, it is entitled The Miller s IVedding. No.l58. Wae is my heart, and the tear's in mye'e. Scots MusicalMtiseum, i^gG, No. 4y6. The holograph MS. is in the British Museum. No reference to this song is in the poet's writings. Stenhouse states that Burns communi- cated the melody, vifhich is very beautiful, to the editor of the Museum, where it was originally published. I have not found it earlier. No. 159. O lassie, are ye sleepin yet? Currie, Works, 1800, iv. 220. Tune, Let vie in this ae night. Scotish Airs, 1805, 1^6. MS. is in the Brechin Castle collection. A version of a song in Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, ii. 16 j, was altered by Burns to fit it for presentation in the Museum, where it appeared in 1792, No. }ii. The MS. of this is in the British Museum.

Burns rewrote it in August, 1 793, but he did not think it worthy of preservation, and cast it aside. In September, 1794, he tried again, and wrote three stanzas, but with the same result. P'inally, the song in the text was transmitted to Thomson in February, 1795, styled by Burns, 'Another trial at your favourite air.' The first stanza and the chorus are from the old song ; the rest is original. The following fourth stanza of the second part was suppressed by Burns : ' My kith and kin look down on me, A simple lad of high degree Sae I maun try frae love to flee Across the raging main, jo.' —':

II. LOVE-SONGS : GENERAL 407

Burns disapproved of the arrangement of the tune printed with the old song in the Museum, and recoinmended Thomson to adopt the copy in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, and to put the chorus of the song to the high part of the tune. With his usual perversity, the editor set the chorus to the low part.

The tune, entitled The gozine new made, is said to be in Leydens MS., 1685 ; as I would have tny goiine i/iade in Sinkler s MS., 17 10; entitled Will ye lend

me your loom, lass in the Caledottian Pocket Cotnpanion, 1752, iv. 21 ; the Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. j7z, with the old words amended by Burns; and in Dale's Scotch Songs, 1794, ii. 97. No. 160. Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay ? Scots Musical Musetun, 1796, No. 4^4, entitled Leezie Lindsay. Burns appears to have recovered the ballad of L^eezie Lindsay, and intended to make a complete song out of it. Johnson of the Musctwi marked on the musical MS. which Burns sent, ' Mr. Burns is to send words,' but the four lines in the text are the whole contribution. Jamieson, in Popular Ballads, 1806, ii. i4(), first published the complete ballad, which refers to Donald MacDonald, heir of Kingcausie, who proposes to go to Edinburgh for a wife. His mother consents on the condition that he shall represent himself as a poor man. To the ' bonny young ladies ' of Edinburgh he promises curds and whey, a bed of bracken, &c. The tune was communicated to Johnson of the Museum, where it was first printed. It is a remarkably simple melody.

*'^o. 161. 'Twas past one o'clock. Scots Musical Mtiseiim, 1790, No. 22-], signed ' Z.' The MS. verses are in the British Museum. In the La%v MS.,

' Mr. Burns's old words ' ; and further on in the same sheet is the note ' There is an excellent set of this tune in M'Gibbon which exactly suits with the words,' which were first sketched in August, 1 788, at Mauchline. The air in a rudimentary form is in the opera Flora, 1729, with Gibber's verses, beginning :

' 'Twas past twelve o'clock on a fine summer morning When all the village slept pleasantly,' &c.

The tune with a Celtic title, Chi mi ma chattle, is in Ramsay's Musick, c. 1726, and a song is so marked in the Tea- Table Miscellajty, 1724. The music, widely known, is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1752, iv. 16;

M'^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1768, iv. ii(f ; and Thumoth's Scotch and Irish Airs. In my copy of M'^Gibbon some previous owner has marked the title Madhyn Bugeeven, as if it were a Dutch melody.

No. 162. Jockie's taen the parting kiss. Cunie, Works, i8oo, iv. _?p7; Scots Musical Ahiseum, 1803, No. jyo, ' Written for this work by Robert Burns'; Edinburgh edition, 1877, and Centenary Burns, 1897. Stenhouse remarks that ' this charming song was written by Burns for the Ahiseum (^Illustrations, p. 4gd). The tune is probably English, and the copy is a bad setting of Bo7tie lass take a man in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, c.\']^(j, xi. 18, which, accord- ing to Mr. Glen, was one of the airs sung in Mitchell's opera, Llighland Fair, 1731- N'o. 163. As I was -walking up the street. Scots Musical Museum, 1803, No. ' W'ritten for this work by Robert Burns ;' Edinburgh edition, /97, 1877 ; and in the Cente7tary Btirns, 1897, iii. 20"], where the last and best stanza is omitted. Stenhouse affirms that the song was written by Burns for the Museum (^Illustrations, p. jid). When and why it was written has not been discovered. It is the second last song by Burns in the Musetim. The tune is said by Stenhouse to have been communicated by Burns. Mr. Glen states that the air is entitled Devil Jly over the water wi' her in Aird's Keels, c. 1788, a collection which I have not seen.

Wo. 164. Is this thy plighted, fond regard? Scotish Airs, 1799, 70, ' Written for this work by Robert Burns. Air, Roy's wife.' The MS. is in the 4o8 HISTORICAL NOTES

Thomson collection. Sent to Thomson on November 20, 1794. ' Since yesterday's penmanship, I have framed a couple of English stanzas, by way of an English song to Roys wife. You will allow me thai in this instance my English corre- sponds in sentiment with the Scottish.' This was originally written to celebrate Mrs. Riddell, but her name was cancelled, and an imaginary one inserted. The tune Roy's wife or Ruffian! s rant is noted in Song No. 2jg. No. 165. There was a bonie lass, and a bonie, bonie lass. Scots Musical Museum, 1803, No. /(S6, ' By R. Kuins.' No historical evidence has been forthcoming for this fragment in the Mtisetun, except that it is marked as stated. The tune, A bonie lass, so far as concerns the first section, is a variation of Pinky house in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1733, No. 21, and the Caledonian

Pocket Companion, 1743, i. // ; the second part appears to be original. *lSo. 166. As late by a sodger I chanced to pass. Scots Musical Museum, 1790, No. 26S. Neither Stenhouse nor Cromek connect Burns with this song, nor is it in his published works. In Law's MS. List for the third volume of the Museum Bums wrote against the title, ' Mr. Burns's old words.' The first twelve lines are substantially those in the Herd MS., and the remaining four lines are original to complete the second stanza for the tune, which is marked as to be sung for one of Allan Ramsay's songs in his Miscellany, 1725. Ramsay's verses, beginning 'Adieu for a while,' are reprinted in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, 106. The music witliout title is in Sinklers MS., 1710; as a variation entitled

Gig it is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1752, iv. ij ; and with the title

rilmakye be fain to follow me in Bremner's Reels, 1757, 24 ; Stewart's Reels,

1 761, 10; Campbell's A' ^e/j, 1778, 12; and elsewhere.

*]Sro. 167. O dear minny, what shall I do? Scots Musical Museum, 1790, No. 2j6. The MS. is in the British Museum, and in Laws MS., ' Mr. B. gave the old words,' in the poet's handwriting. Part of the verses are in the Herd MS. The alteration made by Burns was to recast six lines into eight, the second line being original. The tune is in Sinklers MS., 1710, entitled Minie; in Oswald's Curious Collection of Scots Tmies, 1740, .25; in Caledoniait Pocket Companion, 17.1^1, iii. 10; M^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1746, jj. A similar melody is in Apollo's Banquet, 1695, entitled Long cold nights.

III. LOVE: HUMOROUS.

Ho. 168. Here 's to thy health, my bonie lass ! Scots Musical Museum,

' 1796, No. 4()S, signed B,' with the tune Laggan Burn. I adopt the opinion of Scott- Douglas, that this is an early production of Burns, but the chronology is uncertain. The MS. is in the British Museum. In a later issue of the Miiseum it is marked ' Written for this work by Robert Burns.' According to Mrs. Begg, the poet's sister, the song was known previous to her lime, but there is no trace of any such song. According to Stenhouse, Burns communicated to Johnson of the Museum two melodies for this song, Laggan Burn, and another. The 'other' was not suitable, and Laggan Burn was chosen. Stephen Clarke, the musical editor, is reputed to have adapted it to the verse according to Burns's direction. It is not easy to account for the neglect of this insinuating melody. It may be